Thursday, November 8, 2012

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for November 9, 2012

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for November 9, 2012

Robert A. Hall

No SitReps for day or two

This one is short, as I had a business dinner tonight and little time to create it. My bride and my granddaughter, 12, are arriving in the Chicago area from Wisconsin early Friday evening. We are going to the ball Saturday, November 10th to celebrate the 237th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Therefore, I'll have no time Friday evening or probably Saturday to create a SitRep for you. I hope to be back on the firing line Sunday evening for Monday’s.

This is your one-stop-shop for political news and opinion. Please forward to friends who need to be informed. This SitRep (Military for “Situation Report”) is created by many readers who send me items for inclusion, which I would have likely missed or skipped. And I can only spend at most three hours a night pulling stuff, plus the healthcare or economic stuff that crosses my desk at work. As always, I—and you—owe them thanks and appreciation. I post articles because I think they are of interest and will stimulate thought and discussion. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree (or disagree) with every—or any—opinion in the posted article, or that I was able to verify the information presented, which is the responsibility of the author. I try not to post things that are false, or too far a stretch, regardless of the view point, but I don’t always succeed. As always on the Net, or in the legacy media, you must read critically and with skepticism.

Excerpt: Sources confirmed today that hundreds of thousands of military absentee ballots were delivered hours after the deadline for them to be counted, with preliminary counts showing that they would have overturned the vote in several states and brought a victory for Governor Mitt Romney. Officials say the ballots were delivered late due to problems within the military mail system. Tracking invoices show the ballots sat in a warehouse for a month, then they were accidentally labeled as ammunition and shipped to Afghanistan. At CampDwyer, Marine Sergeant John Davis signed for them and was surprised at the contents.

Excerpt: Conservatives are divided, acrimoniously so, over three schools of explaining The Defeat.

Hello Obama Second Term; bye-bye Western Civilization. By James Delingpolehttp://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100188419/hello-obama-second-term-bye-bye-western-civilization/Excerpt: The US today is almost unrecognisable from the land of opportunity I fell in love with on my first visit nearly 30 years ago. And the reason for this is really very simple (and especially obvious in basket cases like the People's Republic of California): Big Government has continued to grow and grow; regulations have accumulated; private wealth has been confiscated and squandered, on welfare, on bail-outs for companies like GM which would have been better left to fail, on Ben Bernanke's quantitative easing spree, on stringent measures to deal with the so-far unproven threat of "climate change"….

Pete Stark's defeat marks end of an era -- and start of 2014 campaign. By Josh Richman

Excerpt: Rep. Pete Stark's defeat by a young, insurgent Democrat marks the end of an era and perhaps the start of a cycle of internal party warfare. Just as California's new top-two primary system let Dublin councilman and Alameda County prosecutor Eric Swalwell reach and win this general election against the dean of California's House delegation, so too is he likely to face a fellow Democrat's challenge in 2014.

Excerpt: Wisconsin Republicans have retaken full control of state government, winning majorities in both the Senate and Assembly and erasing Democrats' gains in last summer's recalls.

Headlines this morning1. Man behind anti-Muslim film SENTENCED to prison.2.Loughner to be SENTENCED for Arizona shootings.3. FortHood suspect's attorneys appeal shaving ruling.Guess a "work place" violence situation requires a lot more time than violation of probation. –Laura

Excerpt: The United States reversed policy on Wednesday and said it would back launching talks on a treaty to regulate arms sales as long as the talks operated by consensus, a stance critics said gave every nation a veto. The decision, announced in a statement released by the U.S. State Department, overturns the position of former President George W. Bush's administration, which had opposed such a treaty on the grounds that national controls were better. (Gee, I wonder why Wednesday? I’d like to be a gun seller this week. ~Bob.)

Re-inspiration

I needed some re-inspiration. This may do it. At the time this speech was given, Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries stood virtually alone against the Axis Powers. Five years later, the alliance they formed with the USA and many other countries won WWII. Ron P. "...We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender...." W. S. Churchill, 1940. Then there is this quote. I fear we have come to the worst case he lists last. ~Bob. "If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." -- Winston Churchill

U.N. Election Observers: Why Don’t These People Have To Show ID? By Awr Hawkins

Excerpt: This enables an Islamist who wants to continue to see our military weakened to cross in from Mexico, show up at a voting booth in Florida, give his name as John Smith and help swing that election to the .5% margin of victory for Obama. Or it allows any number of the 1,000,000 illegal immigrants Obama gave de facto amnesty to earlier this year to walk into voting booths in Ohio and provide names and fake address and then vote to give Obama the 1.9% margin of victory with which he carried that state….In fact, perhaps you'll remember that when Pennsylvania's voter ID law was being challenged, and was eventually overturned, Obama surrogates were saying aloud: "If the voter ID law is allowed to stand in Pennsylvania we are in trouble."

Excerpt: The fiscal cliff approaching at the end of this year pales in comparisons to the impending entitlements program cliff, say Merrill Matthews, a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation, and Mark E. Litow, a retired actuary and chairman of the Social Insurance Public Finance Section of the Society of Actuaries. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 108 million Americans live in households where at least one person participates in a means-tested program. The number has grown rapidly under the Obama administration. Medicaid has grown from 46.9 million to 56 million people. Disability beneficiaries increased from 7.5 million to 8.8 million. Food stamp recipients have grown from 32 million to 47 million Americans. The budgetary challenges for these programs are enormous. For the 2012 fiscal year, the nation spent around $2.2 trillion of its $3.7 trillion budget on entitlement programs. The cost of entitlement programs plus the interest on debt is nearly equal to total federal revenue today. Everything the government does is on borrowed, or printed, money. Who is going to pay for all these benefits? (It may turn out that Mitt was the lucky one on Tuesday. Have I mentioned I think a fiscal collapse is coming? )

I spent most of Wednesday being rather grumpy. We've taken hits before (April, 1975 for example). We may be getting long in the tooth, but we still know how to play the game. "...our Corps, whom we are proud to serve. We've fought for life in many a strife and never lost our nerve." Of course it's hard. I have no doubt we'll mourn a bit before returning to the fray. Over the course of many years, I’ve been repeatedly told I was persistent. Sometimes, the word used was stubborn. Recently, a lady whose regard I hold dear told me I was relentless. A less charitable person might have said I am implacable. We were taught to accomplish our mission, whatever it may be. When I wore the uniform—it seems like it was back when the Mark-1 battle axe was still the issue weapon (DAMN! those things were heavy)—we had the ethos, but no fancy motto to remind us of it. Now, they have posters that proclaim it loudly: Adapt, react, overcome. It may take us a while to discern just what lessons can be learned from the election. But, we will learn. We will apply those lessons. We will adapt. We will react. And, we will overcome. Even if it takes the rest of our lives. The cost of losing is merely our lives. The cost of giving up is our hope for all the generations to follow us. So, we can fail. But, we can never quit. --Semper Fi, Ron P.

Excerpt: Some Philadelphia neighborhoods outdid themselves in Tuesday's presidential election. In a city where President Obama received more than 85 percent of the votes, in some places he received almost every one. In 13 Philadelphia wards, Obama received 99 percent of the vote or more. (Under the guise of fighting “racism,” they have made The Chicago Way the national norm. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: The two apparently died of natural causes, which did not sway voters.

Florida Democrat Earl K. Wood and Alabama Republican Charles Beasley won their respective elections but they will not take office. Both men died weeks before the Nov. 6 election yet managed to beat their very much alive opponents by comfortable margins.

Oil, Gas, And Coal Can Prime The Jobs Pump: Which States Will Benefit? By Mark P. Mills, Senior Fellow and Yevgeniy Feyman, Research Associate

Excerpt: In a new paper out today, American Action Forum President Douglas Holtz-Eakin explains the structural flaws in the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a central feature of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and how it will ultimately ration care for Medicare patients.

Excerpt: We spent billions of dollars and billions of words on an election to switch from President Obama, a Democratic Senate and a Republican House to President Obama, a Democratic Senate and a Republican House. Every election predictor was wrong, except one: Incumbents usually win.

Excerpt: Barack Obama won a moderately close victory over Mitt Romney on Tuesday. But oddly, nothing much has changed. The country is still split nearly 50/50. There is still a Democratic president, and an almost identically Democratic Senate at war with an identically Republican House, in a Groundhog Day America.

Group home accused of taking patients to vote for Obama, as agency disputes claim. By Judson Berger

Excerpt: The father of a mentally handicapped woman claims his daughter and others were “carted off” to a North Carolina polling site last week and “coaxed” into voting for President Obama by workers of the group home where she stays -- a claim the owner of the home disputes and that apparently has not yet triggered an investigation by election officials. The father, Cecil Pearson, said his daughter – who is 40 but has the “mentality ... of a 7-year-old” – was “brainwashed the night before” and then taken to a Roanoke Rapids polling site on Friday to vote. (This type thing was reported to us in Wisconsin in 2004, when I was working election day. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Some 57 percent of Israeli Jews preferred Romney, only 22% Obama (in my sector of American Israelis it was even more lopsided, a full 85% having cast absentee ballots for the challenger, only 14% for the incumbent). So, naturally, for the most part, November 7, 2012 was not a day of celebration in Israel. (They know it may mean a new Holocaust. ~Bob.)

Serial felon and convicted fraudster Brian Banks will become Michigan state representative. By Annie Z. Yu

Excerpt: Democrat Brian Banks, an eight-time convicted felon with a rap sheet spanning several years, on Tuesday handily defeated his Republican opponent in the race to represent Michigan’s first district as a state representative, taking 68 percent of the vote. Banks’ district includes northeast Detroit, Harper Woods, Grosse Pointe Woods and Grosse PointShores. The 35-year-old Banks was convicted of credit card fraud and writing bad checks eight times between 1998 and 2004. His latest conviction came eight years ago, when he was 27 years old. (Ought to get a cabinet position. Fits right into the Dem party. –Barb)

Excerpt: Sneed has learned U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who handily won re-election Tuesday despite a lengthy stay at Mayo Clinic for depression and bipolar disorder, is in the midst of plea discussions with the feds probing his alleged misuse of campaign funds. (I’m shocked, shocked I say, that Jesse Jackson [D-Bud Lite} is in trouble. ~Bob.)

Excerpt: Many New Yorkers likely think Craig Fugate, who runs the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is doing a “heckuva job.” But he may have some explaining to do after FEMA disaster centers in several sections of New York City suddenly closed up shop Wednesday. Another storm — a dreaded nor’easter — is on its way, and FEMA’s response was to shutter the relief centers that have been some Hurricane Sandy victims’ sole source of food, water and other supplies. (Don’t call us, we’ll call you when the sun shines. Bloomberg –Barb.)

Excerpt: Dozens of Connecticut’s registered voters are actually people who died several years ago. NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters and a team at CentralConnecticutStateUniversity cross-checked information from the Social Security Death Index and the current state voter registry and discovered that more than 30 deceased people are still registered to vote in the state. Each of the deceased individuals was found to have registered to vote after they died.

Arizona: Muslim family that beat teenage girl and padlocked her to a bed for talking to a boy spared jail time

Excerpt: Of course. To have put them in jail would have been "Islamophobic."

Muslim Parents That Beat Teen And Padlocked Her To Bed Avoid Jail Timehttp://www.ktrh.com/pages/michaelberry.html?article=10558246Excerpt: Members of an Iraqi family in Arizona who beat a teenage relative and padlocked her to a bed after she violated their traditional values by chatting to a male friend were spared jail time in a plea deal approved by a county judge on Tuesday.

Excerpt: The list of suspects in the Libya terror attack now extends to a handful of suspected militants aligned with an Egyptian group known as the Jamal Network, Fox News has learned. A U.S. official said the Jamal Network is committed to violence to attain its political ambitions, adding they are "hard-core, violent extremists in Egypt who are trying to develop a relationship with Al Qaeda." Fox News is told that there are between two- and three-dozen suspects actively being investigated at any one time in connection with the Benghazi attack.

"Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them." --Thomas Jefferson (1775)

Excerpt: Ratings said there would be "no fiscal honeymoon" for President Barack Obama, warning early Wednesday that the U.S. probably would lose its AAA credit rating if the White House and Congress don't address looming tax increases and spending cuts and the fast-approaching debt ceiling.

Excerpt: When all was said and done, this election did turn out to be 2004 again. A polarizing president with tepid approval ratings fended off a Massachusetts based challenger who proved surprisingly resilient, but whose tactical errors and vulnerabilities put an unbreakable ceiling on his appeal. The victory itself was a weirdly shaped bubble made partly of scaring up a base vote with ad hominem attacks on the persona and character of the opponent, and partly of one time, single issue alliances that lifted the beleaguered incumbent without gaining much for his ballot mates in his own party:

Excerpt: Tim Edson, West's campaign manager, issued a statement Wednesday morning calling for a "full hand recount of the ballots" in St. Lucie County, Fla.: "Late last night Congressman West maintained a district-wide lead of nearly 2000 votes until the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections 'recounted' thousands of early ballots. Following that 'recount' Congressman West trailed by 2,400 votes."In addition," Edson continued, "there were numerous other disturbing irregularities reported at polls across St. Lucie County including the doors to polling places being locked when the polls closed, in direct violation of Florida law, thereby preventing the public from witnessing the procedures used to tabulate results."

Excerpt: Election Day voter fraud places at risk the 2012 Presidential Election, and it costs taxpayers money and wastes election board employees' time. And Sarah Palin is telling her Facebook fans to be sure to record and report it.

Quote

"To me the most telling incident of the campaign season was a poll that found that among young Americans, socialism enjoys a higher favorability rating than free enterprise. How can this possibly be, given the catastrophic failure of socialism, and the corresponding success of free enterprise, throughout history? The answer is that conservatives have entirely lost control over the culture. The educational system, the entertainment industry, the news media and every cultural institution that comes to mind are all dedicated to turning out liberals. To an appalling degree, they have succeeded." - John Hinteraker